Gaceta Oficial
Cuba's official state gazette, which publishes decree-laws and implementing rules.
Cuba's Gaceta Oficial published Decree-Law 128/2026 and Decree 325 on 3 and 4 September, letting foreign firms hire Cuban staff without the state employment agency, while no private-bank licensing rule had appeared by early August.
Last refreshed: 3 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Where are Cuba's private-banking reform rules actually written down?
Timeline for Gaceta Oficial
Mentioned in: Cuba lets foreign firms hire directly
Cuba DispatchPublished Decreto 160 in edition 62 Ordinaria on 28 July
Cuba Dispatch: Decreto 160 flips Cuba's default to yesPublished Resolution 155/2026 on 16 July
Cuba Dispatch: Cuba blames blockade for 64% gas risePublished issue No. 54 without an implementing rule
Cuba Dispatch: Cuba's private-bank law, no licence yetBackground
The Gaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba is the Cuban state's official legal gazette. Decree-laws, decrees and ministerial resolutions acquire legal force when it prints them, so lawyers and analysts read it to judge whether an announced Reform has become administrative law.
Gaceta Oficial No. 62 Ordinaria, published on 28 July 2026, carried Decreto 160/2026. The decree took effect on 4 August and replaced a list of 125 banned private-sector activities, removing 46 and relaxing 35 more, so that businesses are legal unless specifically banned.
The gazette therefore sets the real timetable of Cuban economic policy. Its 2026 issues show Labour and private-sector measures reaching print within months, while the banking rules for the June Reform lagged behind them.
The gazette turns reform into law
On 18 June 2026 Cuba's Parliament approved a Reform package of 176 measures that legalised private banks and dollar accounts. The banking chapter needed the gazette to carry an approval rule, and the 29 June issue carried none. By 1 July no private bank or exchange house had a licence.
The Labour chapter moved faster. Decree-Law 128/2026 and Decree 325, published in the gazette on 3 and 4 September, made the state employment agency optional rather than mandatory for foreign firms hiring Cuban staff. The agency still handles exit permits and currency conversion. Publication is the step that turns each measure into enforceable law, so the gap between the two chapters shows in the gazette's pages.
The gazette carried a 64% gas rise
Resolution 155/2026, in force from 16 July, raised the price of a 10kg bottled cooking-gas cylinder 64%, from 213 to 350 Cuban pesos. The rise reaches 1.7 million contracted customers, most of them outside Havana. The government blamed the US blockade, though deputy prime minister Óscar Pérez-Oliva had said on 3 July that fuel now arrives by shipping container rather than tanker.
The Gaceta Oficial's handling of the resolution showed its two speeds. A price rise that raises state revenue reached print within days of the government's decision, while the implementing rule for June's private-banking Reform had still not appeared by early August.
The gazette moves faster on revenue
Did Cuba publish its cooking gas price rise in the Gaceta Oficial?
Reference
What is the Gaceta Oficial de Cuba?
Has Cuba published rules for its private-banking reform?
Written with AI from Lowdown's published reporting. Not individually reviewed by an editor. Updated 3 October 2026. Editorial standards.